Knife crime hits record high as offences up by 8%

Knife crime offences hit a record high in 2018-19, up by 8% on the previous year in England and Wales, new figures show.

The figures for police-recorded crime revealed there were 43,516 police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, which is the highest since comparable records began in 2011.

The figures released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) excludes Greater Manchester Police, which records data differently.

Mark Bangs, from the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice, said: "The picture of crime is a complex one. Overall levels of crime have remained steady, but this is not the case for all types of crime."

He mentioned "increases in violent crimes involving knives and sharp instruments" as well as "increases in fraud and overall theft, but decreases in burglary following recent rises".

Theft showed a 13% increase compared with the year ending March 2017 - however estimates of theft remain much lower than 20 years ago.

The new knife crime statistics come after London mayor Sadiq Khan branded the rise in fatal stabbings a "human cost of austerity".

He claimed new data published by City Hall on Monday using figures from police and ambulance services showed a "direct link" between poverty and violent crime.

Prime Minister Theresa May convened a knife crime summit in April to tackle the number of violent attacks, and admitted at the time "it is a challenge that as a society we need to rise up to and to act to deal with".

There have been at least 33 fatal stabbings in London this year, following a spike last year of 135.

There was a rise of 3,301 knife crime offences from 2017/18, with the volume of offences up by 42% since the year ending March 2011.

Sarah Jones MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime, said: "To see knife crime increase by 8% after already being at record levels is truly shocking.

"Today's figures show the government has been far too slow to tackle county lines activity which sees vulnerable, armed young people trafficked into towns across our country."

She added that the new prime minister is "inheriting an epidemic of serious violence" and needs to be clear after entering Downing Street that it is a national priority.

Barnardo's chief executive Javed Khan said it is "unacceptable that the knife crime crisis continues unabated with offences at record levels."

He added: "Children are not born with knives in their hands, knife crime is a symptom of a much bigger problem.

"Our frontline support services say vulnerable children and young people are being recruited and exploited by criminal gangs and forced to traffic drugs and carry knives.

"Urgent action must be taken so that future generations are not condemned to live in an endless spiral of violence."

Today's figures also showed that robbery offences rose by 11% to a total of 85,736.

The total number of homicides in 2018/19 increased slightly to 701 offences from 693 in the previous 12 months, excluding terrorist attacks, and the number of violence against the person offences rose by 20% year-on-year to 1.67 million.